Since that nice Mr Putin decided to liberate Ukraine from the shackles of having to vote for its despots, tech companies have been leaving Russia. Tsar Putin has decided that the only way to keep his followers supplied with western gadgets is to make his own.

An unnamed Android handset is being built by the National Computer Corporation (NCC), one of Russia’s largest IT companies. That nice Mr Putin has ordered them to make and sell 100,000 smartphones and tablets by the end of 2023.

NCC founder Alexander Kalinin is investing $132.9 million in the project and he wants to capture 10 percent of the consumer market by 2026.

The news comes just days after the US Department phones and other electronics exports to Russia and other electronics that cost more than $300.

While it looks good on paper, NCC’s phone will have a tough time beating inexpensive phones made by that nice Mr Putin’s Chinese chum China's President Xi [Pooh Bear ]Jinping. There might be a few problems using Google’s Android.

Google is unlike to allow that nice Mr Putin to use the full license while it could be installed in a missile which could be used to destroy a Ukrainian block of flats.

The new smartphone project is just one of many of Russia’s attempts at technological self-sufficiency and digital sovereignty. The country has promised “unprecedented” amounts of funding to develop its electronics industry, which is tempting Russian firms. But not everyone is convinced that government subsidies will result in new products—or whether products like NCC’s phone will succeed.

Others think that the government money will just end up in someone’s pocket and no products will ever see the light of day.